When conducting financial transactions, it has become increasingly common that a consumer may present a portable consumer device (such as a credit card) that has the ability to communicate with a merchant's point-of-sale (POS) terminal or other access device using some form of contactless communication. This may eliminate the need for traditional swiping of the payment device, and also enables the use of alternate payment devices (such as virtual wallets on mobile phones).
Until adoption of contactless access devices by merchants and other institutions becomes more common, consumers may have a difficult time determining where contactless payment devices are accepted. This may force customers to carry both traditional and contactless payment methods, thus reducing the potential benefits of using contactless payment devices.
It is also difficult to determine where contactless access devices are located. Many merchants may install contactless access devices (e.g., contactless POS terminals), but many consumers may not know that those merchants have installed contactless access devices and are willing to accept contactless payment devices. Those merchants may consequently lose business. Traditional methods for determining the locations of contactless access devices include using human beings to go and personally visit merchants and record where these access devices would be used. This is inefficient.
It would be desirable to provide for a more efficient way to determine the location of a contactless access device. It would also be desirable to provide consumers with better ways to determine which merchants or locations might accept contactless payment devices.
Embodiments of the invention address these and other problems.